Development of a Smart Energy Plan is Underway
to Prevent Future Blackouts and Meet the Nation's Growth NeedsThe nation's current electric grid system will not work in the
future with solar and wind farms providing substantial but intermittent
power over long distances

These images dramatically illustrate the extent
of the blackout on August 14, 2003. Columbia University feels
it is imperative that the development of the new Smart Grid
system being developed by Lamont-Doherty scientists be a top
National priority. Image Credit: NASA.

By 2050, it will take about 30 Terawatt-hours per year (TWh) of electric
power to supply the North American economy. A little less than 15
TWh are currently used, with the United States the largest consumer.
The “Smart Electric Grid of the Future” must be able
to efficiently and securely deliver this two- to three-fold-increase
in power to all corners of the continent, in addition to being invulnerable
to security breaches, attacks, natural disasters, and mechanical
failures. The country can ill afford more blackouts like August 14,
2003.

Researchers at Columbia University
have assembled a national team of scientists, technologists,
security and intelligence experts to spearhead development
of this “Smart Electric Grid”—a lean
and efficient electrical delivery system that can meet
the future energy and security demands of the nation.
Dr. Roger N. Anderson and Albert Boulanger from the Lamont-Doherty
Earth Observatory, a member of The Earth Institute at
Columbia University, along with Rick Smalley, Nobel Laureate
from Rice University’s Center for Nano Scale Science & Technology,
Ron Oligney, best-selling author of “The Color
of Oil” and Director of the Texas Energy Center,
and Paul Chu, National Medal of Science winner and Director
of the Texas Superconductivity Center at the University
of Houston, have developed the framework for a “Smart
Electric Grid,” and plans are underway to test
their system in Texas as well as the Northeast.

“We plan to integrate new technologies
with the public policies, economic incentives and regulation
changes that will be required to produce the new electric
power system. The plan calls for a National Test Bed
to put designs and innovations to practical use. A smarter
and more capable system is essential to the future of
economic growth and vitality for all of North America,
and we intend to build the demonstration projects that
will show the way to the future grid” said Anderson.

The top
image was taken approximately 20 hours before the
blackout, and the bottom image was taken approximately
7 hours into the blackout, where you can see, among
other changes, that Toronto (upper, left) has gone
completely dark. Image Credit: NASA

The technologies that the Columbia Team are working on
will smartly control the complex system associated with
the continent’s vast electrical power grid, which
must interconnect 200 million asynchronous house, block,
community, business, industry, town, and regional generation,
transmission, distribution and storage systems. In the
immediate future, vast new renewable energy sources from
wind, solar, and geothermal power generation must be added
to gas, coal, hydroelectric and nuclear sources of the
present. The new “Smart Electric Grid” must
improve efficiency by 50% or more in order for this power
technology revolution to be affordable. In addition, it
must be far more sophisticated from a computerized control
standpoint in order to deal with unpredictable and time-varying
green power sources such as giant wind and solar farms
located thousands of miles from metropolitan users. Distributed
generation and local power storage at consumer and manufacturing
sites must be designed and tested to further fortify Grid
stability and safety from terrorism, as well as better
defend it from the usual weather and mechanical outages.
Columbia feels it is imperative that the development of
the new Smart Grid system be a top National priority and
that it be open to continual innovation unlike the current
electricity system with its limited Research and Development
budgets.

The Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory,
a member of The Earth Institute at Columbia University,
is one of the world’s leading research centers
examining the planet from its core to its atmosphere,
across every continent and every ocean. From global climate
change to earthquakes, volcanoes, environmental hazards
and beyond, Observatory scientists provide the basic
knowledge of Earth systems needed to inform the future
health and habitability of our planet. For more information,
visit www.ldeo.columbia.edu.

The Earth Institute at Columbia University is among the
world’s leading academic centers for the integrated study of Earth,
its environment, and society. The Earth Institute builds upon excellence
in the core disciplines—earth sciences, biological sciences, engineering
sciences, social sciences and health sciences—and stresses cross-disciplinary
approaches to complex problems. Through its research training and global
partnerships, it mobilizes science and technology to advance sustainable
development, while placing special emphasis on the needs of the world’s
poor.